Your pelvic floor

Your Pelvic Floor

What is your pelvic floor and what do your pelvic floor muscles do?

Your pelvic floor is a sling of muscles (pelvic floor muscles) that attach to the base of your spine (coccyx) at the back and the pubic bone at the front. Your vagina, urethra and anus pass through the pelvic floor muscles.

Your pelvic floor is multi-functional:

• It supports your pelvic organs – bladder, bowel and womb (uterus)
• It can give confident bowel control. Strong pelvic floor muscles allow you to feel the sensation that you ‘need to go’ and allow you to hold on until you are ready to go
• It prevents urine leaking as your bladder gradually fills up. When your pelvic floor muscles contract they send a message to your bladder to tell it to stop contracting and therefore your desire to wee subsides
• It also prevents urine leaking when there is a pressure increase in the abdomen i.e. when you laugh, sneeze, cough or exercise. The pelvic floor muscles contract and they close the neck of the bladder and squeeze the urethra to stop the urine coming out
• It acts as a turning guide during delivery of a baby

Many woman do not realise they have a problem with their pelvic floor muscles, discover if you need to strengthen your weak pelvic floor muscles by reading our Have You Got a Problem? feature.

Exciting news!!!!

Neen's incontinence products are to be featured on Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies early 2009. Watch this space to find out when.